The Browns are No. 1 in the NFL in one category, but it’s not one they want in which to lead the league. No team has committed more penalties that cost the team 10 or more yards through three games than Freddie Kitchens’ Cleveland Browns.
Cleveland has been flagged for “major” penalties — violations which cost the team 10 or more yards — 21 times through Week 3. According to NFL Inside Edge, that’s five more than any other team. The Browns have committed 35 accepted penalties on the season with an astonishing 11 more declined by the opponent.
To put it into more perspective, the 21 major penalties is more than the entire penalty total for 11 different teams through three games.
Sunday night’s loss to the Rams was a step in the right direction. The Browns were guilty of just two infractions of 10 yards or more, an offensive pass interference on Pharaoh Brown and an unsportsmanlike conduct on Jermaine Whitehead.
